mental ray for Maya 2016 SP1 is now available for download here.
It ships with mental ray 3.13.1.8. Both the mental ray core and the integration provide important fixes that we will list in this post.
MDL rendering: latest MDL fixes are incorporated into SP1.
The new version of the MILA layering shaders fixes various issues:
- alpha channel computation for specular and glossy transmission
- possible texturing artifacts if
mila_lightlight shader was used - halo effect on specular highlight when using mila in IPR
- possible black pixel artifacts / NaN warnings in custom curve layer weights
- unknown tag access fatal if mila_specular_transmission was used in combination with irradiance particles or with the GI Next prototype
- missing subsurface scattering effects behind refractions
- possible issues with semi-transparent objects in segmented/sorted shadow modes
- possible tile artifacts in particular with glossy reflection mix
- VP2 display for mila is now also working for scenes created with Maya 2015
UV-tiling: There was a severe bug around uv-tiled textures and conversion to .map textures: the conversion to .map would sometimes be automatically triggered. This is fixed now. The conversion will only occur if ‘Use optimized textures (auto-conversion)’ is checked in the rendering preferences. (There is a known issue in this context: the button ‘Update optimized cache textures now’ only converts the first uv-tile of a uv-tile sequence. The others will be converted during the first rendering.)
Also, when you created two file texture nodes both referencing the same uv-tile sequence, this could lead to a crash with the previous version. This is now resolved.
There are also various performance improvements in the SP1 version:
- Since Maya2016, the new shadow mode default is “shadow segments”. This mode supports all ray tracing effects including subsurface and volume scattering in contrast to the approximate, thus potentially faster “simple” shadows. With the latest mental ray, we have improved the performance of “shadow segments” on scenes with extremely high depth complexity.
- Light Importance Sampling is now faster for scenes with a mixture of large and small are lights.
- Mental ray render times with procedural shaders/textures (ocean, fractal, and so forth) are also improved.
Inside mental ray 
[…] mental ray for Maya 2016 SP1 (Inside mental ray) […]
Hi. When using mila_mix_translucent and also using an Alpha channel in visibility i can not make shadows pass through when using the shadow segment method. If I have 3 polyplanes placed in front of each other its only the second plane that leaves shadows on the first plane. The shadows from the third polyplane does not reach the first plane. Also the Alpha channel Works ok for cutting out leaves on a polyplane for example but it will not allow shadows to pass through. All of this Works fine with shadows set to simple – but I cant make i Work with segments.
Its probably me who is missing something…what might that be?
Hi Kurt,
that’s hard to say without having a scene or at least more information on the set-up.
Can you please contact us at the NVIDIA Advanced Rendering Forum and provide us with reproduction steps?
Thanks a lot,
Julia
Waht’s going on with this relaese of mentalray Sp1?
Rendering a simple scene some trees and grass, it take for ever!!!!!
IMG 102023:TIFFReadDirectory: Unknow field wirh tag 37724 (0x935c) encountered.
RC 0.3 10 MB Warn 082111: finalgather filter is deprecated, value 0 is recommended
Photoshop likes to do strange things to .tif files. This warning also exists in other software using tifs.
FG Filter usage is deprecated, meaning it should not be used, it’s a legacy feature now.
Hi David
Are you saying .tif fle is not recomanded with Mental ray ? So I can replace it with .png file
But what about FG? when creating Physical Sun and Sky the FG is automatically activated, should I switch to GI Next?
are the FG system old know or just that Filter parameter?
can you elaborate more please beacuse I am so confusing know; what is the right way ?
You should use an optimized format like tiled and mipmapped EXRs or Tifs prepared with exrmaketiled or imf_copy. Huge performance gains can be had this way. Most other renderers do this behind the scenes and cache the textures. mental ray can do that with .map files. Similar concept.
The FG filter parameter itself is deprecated.
Final Gather may be deprecated after prototypes are completed.
hi david
I am haiving problems with multipass EXR rendering in maya 2016 using the MILA multipass system on an object…I read by documentation MILA render passesare globally and render on all layers if you have several layers, ok I switched on the flags to some passes in the SCENE TAB so i can have the EXR multipass….at the end the EXR is generated but seems like only black images are renderer on the passes can you tell me how it should work to get proper passes in the EXR
Hopefully you are using mila_materials, as those are the ones that input currently to the MILA light path passes. If you have a scene to submit, please go to the forum, forum.nvidia-arc.com and put it in the Maya dedicated section.
thak you david
I’ll try it …
Hi David,
There’s a bug using mila scatter and physical area lights (and possibly other lights as well.) My render has square regions across my frame consistent with the render buckets where the lighting varies. Can post an image of what’s happening via email.
I’m on OSX 10.10.4, Maya 2016 SP2.
There was a similar bug that was fixed by either SP1 or SP2, but we should double check on OSX. So please try giving a scene example in the forum, forum.nvidia-arc.com in the mental ray section for Maya.
Thanks, will do!